America

The Yiddish word chutzpah is defined as personal confidence and was displayed prominently on Tuesday by Benjamin Netanyahu. To a joint session of Congress, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu demonstrated a great amount of chutzpah as he stood and openly rebuked President Obama's foreign policy in his own country.

The rebuke was clear, but it was immersed in a speech saturated with thankfulness. Grateful for the invitation, Netanyahu thanked the United States for their continual support. "Israel is grateful for the support of America's people and of America's presidents, from Harry Truman to Barack Obama." Thanking Congress for their support and authorization in everything from military assistance to missile defense, the prime minister expressed his gratitude specifically and his appreciation thoroughly.

The Department of Homeland Security is set to run out of funds on Friday if Congress does not pass a funding bill to send to the president's desk. With a Republican-controlled Congress and a Democratic president, tension builds yet again as funding is left in a precarious position. Talking about each other and refusing to compromise with one another, approximately 30,000 non-essential Department of Homeland Security workers will be furloughed and 240,000 will go to work without pay if a funding bill is not passed. Tension centers on the disagreement concerning immigration. Specifically, the Republican-controlled Congress has major issues with the executive actions that President Obama enacted back in November.

G.K. Chesterton, 19th century British writer and thinker, wrote "happiness is not only a hope, but also in some strange manner a memory; that we are all kings in exile." With happiness a state of the past and exile a situation in the present, Chesterton expressed a sentiment that many evangelicals resonate with today. Recent political actions have heightened this dissatisfaction and sharpened their understanding of exile.

This predicament of exile, the status of a stranger (1 Peter 1:1), is unfamiliar for many evangelicals in the land of the free and home of the brave. While evangelicals have never officially aligned with a particular party, they have been frequent guests at a certain party. At this party, they feel at home because of their stance against same-sex marriage and pro-life position.